A Grand Affair
by WalkerTRngr
Summary: When Brass asks the crew to attend the annual Policemen's Ball to raise money for a widow and her children Sara needs help finding a dress. GSR!
1. Help?

**Let me first start off by saying this story is absolute fluff! But in the wake of such an angst filled season finale I thought a lil fluff couldn't hurt anyone : ).**

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Preparation:

Sara remembered why she hated events like this so much. She hated dressing up. Well she reasoned with herself, she didn't hate the dressing up so much as the actual picking out of what to wear. She was a jeans and sneakers gal, definitely not a ball gown kinda gal. That she sighed, was Catherine's department. And that is why she currently found herself being dragged halfway through the mall with said ball gown gal.

"Look Catherine, we've been to about seven different stores so far. If I haven't found anything yet maybe it's a sign. I'm just not meant to go."

"Are you serious?!" Catherine said giving her a look that read, we're not leaving till we find something.

"Look Sara it took a lot for you to come to me and tell me about you and Gil and how important it was that you look nice for next week so we're not leaving until we find something. And not just anything. Something that will really knock his socks off!" She replied enthusiastically.

Sara just rolled her eyes as they entered their eighth dress shop. When she'd heard about this year's upcoming policemen's ball she wasn't surprised. It was an annual event after all. She was surprised however that she found her self attending this year. Normally functions like this were definitely not her thing. But Brass had come to the team and asked them if they would be willing to attend because all the proceeds raised from this year's event would go to the widow and children of an officer who had been shot and killed in the line of duty by a robbery suspect. The man left behind a wife and five children and Brass worked with the man's father years back and had gotten to know his family very well. The man had become like a son to him. The team instantly agreed to go noting that Jim never asked anything of them unless he thought it was really important.

It wasn't until Grissom had mentioned to her one night that he would be going with the guys to be fitted for the tux he would be wearing that night that she realized she needed a dress. This thought led to a mass panic. In the past she never really cared how she looked at events like this. But this time was different. This time Grissom would be there and they would be more than just co-workers. Although up to this point the only person who knew they were more than colleagues was Brass, she knew she had to look good for him. After all he looked quite dashing in a tux. It annoyed her to no end that all men had to do for formal events was rent a tux while women had to actually spend time searching for the right dress to wear. And of course the search didn't end there. Once the dress was found, one had to find the right shoes to match, and handbag and shawl and so forth. Men had it soooo easy.

So one night Grissom had found her hunched over her laptop searching clothing websites.

"Hey hon what are you doing?" He asked as he walked into their study.

"Well when you mentioned going to be fitted for your tux I remembered that I need to find a dress," she rattled off rather quickly a look of panic crossing her face.

Grissom noticed her alarm and tried his best to comfort her.

"Look honey don't stress about it. You'll look good in whatever you wear. Heck you could even wear a garbage bag to the event and you'd still look good," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

_"Good?"_ She kept repeating to herself over and over in her head. Good just wasn't well… good enough. She had to look great, fantastic, fabulous. Good just wasn't going to cut it. That's when she thought she'd ask Catherine for some help.

She hadn't meant to tell Catherine about her and Gil but Catherine had weaseled it out of her anyway. She had decided that she'd casually ask Catherine if she'd found a dress for the event yet.

"So Cath have you found a dress for the benefit yet?" Sara asked as they were sitting in the break room.

"Actually no. I was thinking about going shopping after shift," Catherine said as she read through the latest Cosmo.

"Oh well if you want some company let me know," Sara said casually as she started to walk out of the room.

"Sara Sidle stop right there," Catherine said in her best authoritative tone.

Sara winced and stopped slowly turning to face the blonde.

"Since when would you want to accompany me shopping? For a fancy dress no less!"

Sara paused thinking about her response.

"Well… I mean I just haven't found anything yet and well you know I thought if you were looking and I was as well we could look together that's all."

Catherine gave her a look that said she wasn't buying it.

"I mean it's no secret that you are the best dressed woman in the lab Catherine. You just have a fashion sense that I know I'll never posses. I just thought maybe you could point me in the right direction," Sara said matter of factly. "Besides maybe with your help I'll knock him of his feet," Sara hadn't realized she uttered that last thought out loud.

"Excuse me?" Catherine said.

"Huh?" Sara asked, still oblivious to the fact that she had voiced her wish out loud.

"Who'll be knocked off their feet?" Catherine asked, now insanely curious.

Sara's face turned bright red as she realized that she had said those words out loud.

"Come on Sidle give it up. Who's attention you trying to catch?" Catherine had her suspicions but she was looking for solid proof.

"Well I got their attention it would just be nice if I could you know wow them a little," Sara said shyly.

"Well I have no problem helping you find a dress. In fact I'd love too."

Sara felt relieved.

"On one condition," Catherine said.

Sara felt this was going to turn out bad.

"I get a full bio on this person you're trying to wow," Catherine said with an I gotcha look on her face.

So to ensure that she looked fabulous when she attended the ball she had told Catherine that her and Gil were together. Now she didn't want Grissom to know that the reason Catherine knew about them was because she needed help in the fashion department so she told him that she'd pulled up a website Catherine had wanted to see on her laptop forgetting that she had left up one of the emails he had sent her. He had bought her story and thought since there was nothing they could do about it they'd just have to be more careful in the future. Catherine had been sworn to secrecy anyway…Hah like that would last. So that is how Sara Sidle found herself being dragged halfway across the mall at Caesar's searching for the perfect dress.


	2. If the dress fits!

**Hey everyone!! Sorry it's taken me so long to update this story! Well I will try and get updates out on a more regular basis. As always please let me know what you think :)**

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It was in the eighth shop they visited that Sara found the dress of her dreams. When she walked out of the fitting room everyone in the store stopped and stared. Catherine was left speechless.

After a few minutes she was able to find her voice.

"Sara if that doesn't knock his sock's off then I say he was born with a genetic vision problem as well."

Sara blushed. But even she had to admit she looked fantastic in the dress. She truly believed any woman could look beautiful, it all depended on finding the right look for them.

The dress was satin and a deep candy red. The front had a plunging v-neck who's straps crossed high in the back leaving the rest of the gown backless. The front also had a large slit on the left side that went up to the middle of her thigh. A small train was decorated with a smattering of crystals that danced in the light. Catherine could tell that red was definitely Sara's color. Not everyone could pull it off and still look classy but she had it down pat.

After leaving the dress store they headed to find shoes. Sara fond a pair silver stilettos that went perfectly with the dress. She found a small silver evening bag to complete her ensemble.

"Cath I feel bad we spent the whole day looking for me and you didn't find anything."

"Ah don't worry I'll find something. I'm so excited about your dress. Now you have to promise me you won't let Gil see it before Friday."

"Scout's honor Cath I promise."

When Sara got home she rushed upstairs to hide the dress in her closet before Grissom got home.

"Honey I'm home," Grissom called out doing a horrible impersonation of Ricky Ricardo.

"I think you have the wrong house," she teased as she put her final purchases away.

"Did you find a dress?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

She sighed as she leaned into his chest.

"Maybe yes, maybe no."

"Sara you got a lot of explaining to do," Again another horrible Ricky Ricardo impersonation.

"What's with all the I Love Lucy references?"

"Well while I was in the car the announcer on the radio said that today was the 57th anniversary of the premiere of the I Love Lucy show. It kind of got stuck in my head. I remember my mom watched that show religiously when I was a kid." (A/N: Can anyone tell me the date of this scene in the story? :) Winner gets a slice of my famous chocolate cake!)

"But you're dodging my question Ms. Sidle."

"No I'm not. I told you that maybe I found a dress, translation: you're not going to see it before Friday."

He gave her his best puppy dog face.

"Gilbert it's not working."

"Well you can't blame a guy for trying."

At that moment Hank started barking making his presence known.

"I guess someone's hungry. I'll go feed him," Grissom said as he left for the kitchen.

"What about me?"

"Huh?" Grissom asked confused.

"I'm hungry too."

Grissom saw the look in her eyes and realized she wasn't referring to food.

"Well then my dear. We can't let you starve now can we?" Grissom said as the pulled Sara close for a kiss.

Sara had just started undoing the buttons on Grissom shirt when they were interrupted by Hank's incessant barking.

"Okay I'll be back in two minutes tops," Grissom said as he went to go feed Hank.

They kept Hank's food in a big bin in a cabinet in the kitchen. When the bin emptied out they refilled it with 30 pound bag of dog food they kept in the garage. When Grissom opened the cabinet he inwardly cursed because the bin was empty. He ran to the garage to get more food. When he came back he filled Hank's bowl but noticed that his water bowl was empty. He filled that too then told Hank he could eat. But Hank didn't move.

"Come on boy. What's wrong?"

The Dog barked and ran towards the sliding glass doors that led to their deck. Grissom realized that the dog needed to go out. Now he had to wait till the dog was ready to come back inside.

"Hey what's taking so long? I'm starving up here!"

"I'll be up in a minute hun."

After what seemed like an eternity Hank finally made his way back to the porch. Grissom let him in and the dog went straight for his dinner. Grissom made his way back upstairs taking the stairs two at time.

"Sorry Hank was out of food and then he needed to go..." Suddenly Grissom lost his voice as he saw Sara laying on their bed in nothing but her birthday suit. He froze just staring at her. Sara's voice broke him out of his trance.

"So you gonna feed me?" She asked with a twinkle in her eyes.


End file.
